SpaceX, the private spaceflight company founded by Elon Musk, is gearing up for the third test flight of its impressive Starship rocket. The company recently shared some incredible photos documenting the milestone, as they rolled the two stages of the Starship rocket to the launch pad at Starbase, located on South Texas’ Gulf Coast.
The photos, posted on X (formerly Twitter), showcase the massive Super Heavy booster and the 165-foot-tall Starship upper stage being stacked atop Starbase’s orbital launch mount. This significant step is part of the preparation for Starship’s upcoming test flight, which SpaceX plans to launch in the coming weeks, pending approval from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
However, it remains uncertain when SpaceX will receive the necessary license from the FAA. The agency is still investigating the events that unfolded during Starship’s second flight, which took place last November. Although the mission achieved several milestones, including a successful Super Heavy engine burn and stage separation, both Starship and Super Heavy ultimately exploded, abruptly ending the flight just eight minutes after launch.
This incident followed the destruction of a tumbling Starship during its first flight in April of last year. The initial launch encountered issues with its first-stage burn, and the two stages failed to separate as intended. Despite these setbacks, SpaceX remains committed to its vision of creating a fully reusable Starship capable of delivering up to 150 tons of payload to low Earth orbit.
The ultimate goal of Starship is to expand humanity’s presence beyond Earth and into the solar system, with a particular focus on Mars. Elon Musk himself expressed this ambition in a recent X post, stating, “We are mapping out a game plan to get a million people to Mars. Civilization only passes the single-planet Great Filter when Mars can survive even if Earth supply ships stop coming.”
With each test flight, SpaceX continues to refine and improve its Starship rocket, pushing the boundaries of space exploration and paving the way for future missions to Mars and beyond. As the company awaits the FAA’s decision on the upcoming launch, the world eagerly anticipates the next chapter in SpaceX’s remarkable journey towards interplanetary travel.
